JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 



[ October 13, 1S63. 



I repeat, we clearly love oiu- old flower plants, but bedding 

 plants Kve as a rule — at least we keep them, but one jear, 

 then the cutting takes the place of the old plant, and other 

 cuttings succeed in other year-?. Now, my good fi-iend 

 whose garden border I feebly described in " Kin;,' Croquet," 

 often points to flowering plants with such remarks as these, 

 " That was given me by a poor fellow now in Australia ; 

 that by a lad I nursed in a long illness." 



Many of your readers doubtless Kve in parts of England 

 destitute, like this fen countiy, of great natuial beauties, 

 but 



*' Need no show of mountLiin hoivy, 



Winding shore or deepening glen, 



Where the landscape in its glory 



Teaches truth to wandering Dcen. 



Give live hearts but earth and sky, 



And some fiowera to bloom and d'ie." 



(AH the better if they do not die for many years.) 

 *' Homely scenes and simple views 

 Lo^vly thoughts may best infute." 



_ I remember a dear old lady in Scotland, far on towards 

 eighty yeai-s of age, who — God in mercy having spared her 

 eyesight— used to sit and work at a little table, which 

 always had upon it pots containing common, I mean by 

 that not rare, flowers. Upon my noticing this cii'Cumstanoe 

 to her she said, " Ah ! everything has changed since I was 

 a girl, except my flowers ; that is why I have thorn so near 

 me, for they are my oldest fi'iends, so I give them the place 

 of honour-." 



Supposing this Geranium fever lasts for many more years, 

 our old border plants will become as rai-e ^rith us as small 

 bu'ds ai-e in France. Something like it has ah-eady begun, 

 for I have been served in this way : " Can you tell me the 

 name of this plant?" said I to a young and well-educated 

 gardener._ I received for answer, "ReaUy, sir, I do not 

 know. We gai-deners have, as you know, done away with 

 border plants, and do not cidti^-ate them anywhere. An 

 old woman in a cottage can best tell you the name." 



This, to say the least, is unfortunate, for Flora ought not 

 to lose one gem fi-om her glorious crown. God has given 

 us leaf and flower, vai-ious forms of leaf and shades of 

 flower — as much of beauty in the one as the other. What 

 a pleasure there is in raising with hand or outstretched 

 walking-cane some little lovely border flower nestling in its 

 leafy bed, and tm-ning its blight head upwards to "be ad- 

 mii-ed! We must not think that all floral beauty, though 

 indeed there is much, resides in glomng masses of rich hues, 

 ■which vre have to perfection in beds ; and I think we should 

 not allow our borders to be given to the same tribe. But, 

 unfortunately, of late years the gay crew have in too many 

 gai'dens dismissed with di-ooping heads, but never with 

 ignominy — that woidd be inapossible — the charming old 

 border plants. — Wiltshire Eectoe. 



GLADIGLFS- FAILUEES. 



I BESIDE within a short distance of three nm-series, all of 

 which grow large quantities of Gladiolus, that the public 

 may see them in I.Joom and make theii' own selections in 

 purchasing, theii's being newly imported or well-ripened 

 bulbs. The flowers are splendid, and cannot fail to enamour 

 all who admire beautiful flowers : consequently bulbs ai'e or- 

 den-ed to be delivered when at rest. I received a visit from 

 one of the above nui-seiymen on the 20th of September just 

 past, and was invited to see his beautiful disjjlay of Gla- 

 diolus. Accordingly I went over and took my better half to 

 enjoy the pleasing sight; and, on arrival at the place, 

 seeing no one present to show us the sight, we strolled on 

 until we came to a large patch of Gladiolus, but which were 

 evidently not intended to have been seen by us, for, whiie 

 we were commenting on them, the proprietor ai-rived to 

 escort us elsewhere. In answer to my question why all those 

 Gladiolus were so late (as evidently not one could flower 

 this season, the spikes being not half developed), he reijUed 

 these were bulbs left unsold, and only planted at the end of 

 June or early in JiUy. I, therefore, beg to ask you and 

 other growers through yoiu' Journal, if these bulbs can be 

 ripened and matiu-ed sufficiently to bloom satisiactorOj' in 

 1864 by any ordinary grower ? My experience leads me to 

 say No, and I am convinced 1 have faUed to bloom four 



dozen of last-spring s-pui-chased bulbs of Gladiolus chiefly 

 thi-ough this cause alone. If nurseiymen are determined to 

 have the first blooms after imi^orting the btilbs, and sell 

 these mixed with all then- half-ripened ones, need there be 

 any wonder at the disai>pointment and complaint you so 

 fi'equently hear of and publish ? — T. 



SPEIKG GAEDEIS'ING. 



AiioNdST the most ordinary objections made to the pre- 

 sent fashionable system of bedding-out, there is not one more 

 frequently brought forward than that it leaves the gardens 

 bai-e for a large portion of the year, and that persons sacri- 

 flce the appearance for nine months in the year for the 

 brilliant display of barely three ; and many persons, it is to 

 be lamented, seem to resign themselves to this condition as 

 if it were hopeless to attempt a remedy. Assuredly such a 

 state of things need not be the case, and this conviction 

 arises both from personal exjjerience and from observation 

 of the manner in which the difficulty is met on the continent 

 — for " they manage these things better in France." A few 

 hints as to the best method of meeting the diflBculty may 

 not be unacceptable. 



There are two classes of plants by which this object>-can be 

 effected — bulbs and annuals, the main dependance being 

 placed on the former ; and considering the extensive ai'ea 

 over which, owing to modern horticultiu'e and skill, we 

 ai-e enabled to travel, there is really no difficulty in ha\-ing 

 one's garden gay from the earliest spring months, at a 

 comparatively trifling exjiense. We do not, of course, mean 

 that the garden will present at any one time such a blaze 

 as when Verbenas, Geraniums, A:c., ai-e all in fidl force 

 together ; but a very nice display may be made by having a 

 succession in which the various species of bulbs will play an 

 important part. There is, it is to be remembered, one great 

 advantage in this tribe of plants — ^that their bloom is almost 

 certain. The Tulip, Crocus, Hyacinth, &c., have their flowers 

 ali-eady formed in the bulb, and it will only requii'e the most 

 ordinaiy care to develope them in full perfectitin ; whilst in 

 other things the seed has to be so\vn, or the cuttings made, 

 and " many a slip between the cup and the lip " may take 

 place before the bed is thoroughly in bloom. And, again, 

 they have the advantage that as soon as the bloom is over 

 they may be taken up, removed to a spare jilace in the 

 kitchen garden, and there allowed to matiu-e themselves, 

 and be ready for the following spring, while the vacant 

 spaces may be immediately filled in with the bedding plants. 



So much has been said on the suljject of pot-cultiu'e and 

 window-gardening, and such copious dii'ections are given 

 with the various articles in the catalogues published by 

 the leading tinns, that I shall confine myself to the flowei" 

 gai'den, and endeavour to show how the space occupied by 

 bedding plants in summer maj' be managed in spring. I 

 woidd, then, advise that where beds are bordered with either 

 the white Alyssum or Cerastium that this be done in the 

 autumn, the plants be taken up, divided, and replanted. 

 By this means a neat border will be given to the beds ; for 

 as these plants are perfectly hai'dy they wiU not sufler from. 

 the severity of the winter. 



In some of the beds the Crocus may be used for the 

 earliest bloom, a good broad border of it being, I think, the 

 most eflectivc way in which it can Vie employed; for if the bed 

 is made to depend upon Crocuses entii'ely, theii' long foUage, 

 when they have done blooming, is apt to make it look untidy. 

 Many fine varieties of Crocus may be had for this purpose, 

 while biilliant yellow, blue, and white will really be the most 

 desirable for contrast. No one coidd think of dispensing 

 with the little Snowdrop ; and when to these we add the 

 beautiful brilliant blue ScUla sibiiica, we have named the 

 most beautiful and useful of the eaiiy-floweiing spiing 

 bulbs. To these succeed the Hyacinth, Tulip, Ranunculus, 

 Anemone, Nai'cissus, &c. The Hyacinth, it will be remem- 

 bered, as well as the Ranunculus and Anemone, are dwarf, 

 and should occupy places con-esponding. No one need be 

 told of the gTeat beauty and fi-agi-ance of this lovely spring 

 flower, and 1 would, therefore, advise that it be extensively 

 used. Here named selections would be out of place ; excel- 

 lent bulbs in distinct colours can l>e procured of all the 

 seedsmen, and they can be used according to taste. But 



